Islam in the Classroom: What the Textbooks Tell Us

This new study appraises the ten widely used world history textbooks for U.S. middle and high school students. It concludes that they offer an idealized, often glamorized (and inaccurate) depiction of Islam; they are also brimming with misinformation and biases that misrepresent Islam's theological principles. The author emphasizes that Islamic activists and lobby groups are using American educators' multiculturalism fetish to manipulate the curriculum. Their goal is to extirpate any critical assessments of Islam, especially how the religion has been warped by extremists, from U.S. textbooks. Publishers are taken to task for bowing to pressure from groups like the Council on Islamic Education. Anyone interested in how Islam is treated in major textbooks will find this report useful. Read it here.